Even if you have a fantastic website, blog, and Twitter account, describing everything your club or team does, you are not guaranteed your sponsorship proposal will be seen, or be successful in securing funding.

Simply tweeting “We are seeking sponsors for 2011” via Twitter, publishing your sponsorship proposal on your web site, or sending out generic sponsorship proposals and letters blindly is typically NOT going to cut it for securing sponsors. Don’t get me wrong, you might get some interest, and you may be lucky enough to land a few. But, are you really leveraging available tools to help you connect with companies that could have a genuine interest in sponsoring your club or team?

Here’s the deal, social media tools as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to name a few, can provide you with the information needed to identify companies that can be prospective sponsors. I’m not talking about building a fancy, whizz bang, web or blog site, or blasting OUT a 100 Twitter updates into cyberspace to TELL what your club or team is doing. No, what I am describing is a way to use all of the tools we use in our personal lives to LISTEN to what companies are saying, UNDERSTAND their potential needs, and IDENTIFY how sponsorship could augment their existing advertising and PR campaigns to solve a problem. By LISTENING, your club or team, can gather valuable information, quickly determining which companies might be interested in hearing YOUR story. This isn’t about driving people to your website, blog, etc….sure, that’s important – LATER! To be successful in the sponsorship process, you need to prospect, find companies, and people in those companies, that have a need, and want to hear your story. By gathering intelligence you do a few things – you qualify which company might have a need, who within the company is driving and making decisions, and therefore might be the best person to establish a relationship with, approach, and be amenable to your story!

In the past, most of us would gather information about potential prospects by – buying lists, reading the newspaper, identifying who is moving into town, expanding, hiring people, releasing a new product, etc. But in today’s information age, by the time you see this information in traditional forms; it’s old news; everybody already knows it! However, if your club or team is using tools like search.twitter, blogsearch.google, while researching company pages on Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn, you are already a step ahead. Taking this type of approach enables you to achieve a few things – a) you have identified valuable information early, and, b) you are able to begin thinking of how to align your club or teams value with the company you are investigating. The whitepaper “Selling in the Age of Social Media” states that using social media can enable you to “zero in on companies that contain the specific criteria best aligned with our products”; in the case of your club or team, your products are the benefits you provide.

So, here are 5 quick tips for your club or team to identify, connect, engage, qualify, advance, and close sponsorship opportunities, faster and more effectively than you ever have before.

Use tools to find companies that are prime sponsorship candidates – experiencing change; new products being released, targeting new market segments, expanding, growing, relocating, cost cutting initiatives, ……these are all signals of change, and signs that sponsorship can offer potential value.

“who is saying what, where, when, why and how” – Listen, and observe, “what they are saying?” And, equally important, “who is saying it?”, using “which tools?” This gives you clues into what is of concern or interest, who you might approach, and how you might approach them.

Customize your approach - Craft your messages around the problem they are trying to solve, or the desire they have to change something (i.e. – increase market share, increase visibility, increase sales……). And, establish a dialog using the tools they are most comfortable with. If the person you are interested in engaging “Tweets”, follow them, and communicate via Twitter.

Be a “private eye” – no, not literally! Use social media tools to investigate companies; identify who you might know, what their activities are, groups and communities they belong to, interests, etc..Determine how you can use this information to advance your sponsorship efforts.

Referrals still work wonders (and always will) – Investigate if you, a club member, or teammate, knows “someone-who-knows-someone”. You know what to do if you know them. In the case of the latter, ask for an introduction.

The more you understand about a company; their business and sponsorship goals and objectives; the better your chances of identifying companies where your club or teams value will resonate most! In addition, you are also quickly identifying who within the organization will be most receptive to your messages. Lastly, by using social media tools to their full potential, you can ensure maximum effectiveness for your club or teams sponsorship proposal.

2 Responses to “Sponsorship Proposal & Social Media – harness the power of social media to increase the success of your sponsorship proposal”

I really enjoyed your blog post on how using social media for sourcing sponsorship opportunities, increases success in the cycling sponsorship world.

I know that your tips and advice, I’ve actually seen in use or have used some, in my recent dealings with integrating social media and sponsorship for events, and other causes.

I’d like to know if you’re seeing social media activities, social media properties (like the team Facebook page, Twitter account, YouTube account, etc) are being leveraged to enhance a sponsorship package to sponsors and if you have any thoughts on this?

Yes. Social Media is definitely being used to increase the visibility of clubs, teams and events as part of sponsorship campaigns. Social media helps clubs to show the value they can provide prospective sponsors or the value they provide existing sponsors. Example: a club has success at a race or raising funds for a charity. Post pictures on Flickr with links to your page for sponsors. Include key messages. On YouTube it’s easy to show video from the event along with an explanation of how the club provided visibility and awareness for their sponsors (naming the sponsors). Again, point back to a page on your website specifically created for sponsors. On facebook a club can create a buzz about the events in which they are participating. Conversations can start long before the event takes place to build awareness and visibility for the event and for the sponsors. Having a presence on LinkedIn provides awareness and the potential for connection with businesses. Twitter is another very valuable tool.

One of the best examples I can point to of a team using the web to promote their organization and sponsors is Leopard-Trek’s team announcement. Yes it was staged. But they recorded the whole thing and made it available on the internet. So, many people are able to view it at their leisure. The announcement gives insight into the team but also gives visibility for their key sponsors (including Mercedes Benz).